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Ada Calhoun

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Ada Calhoun is the editor-in-chief of Babble, a consulting editor at Nerve.com and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review.... read more

Lakota Indians Secede from the U.S.

Posted Dec 20th 2007 3:50PM by Ada Calhoun
Filed under: U.S. News

The Lakota Indians, descendants of Crazy Horse and and Sitting Bull, have officially withdrawn from the treaties they had with the United States, the AFP is reporting, meaning they have declared themselves a new nation formally separate from America.

The article quotes Indian rights activist Russell Means as saying: "We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area [Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming] that encompasses our country are free to join us."

It also points out that the new Lakota country plans to issue its own passports, driving licenses and tax plan (that is, there will be no taxes). We went to the Lakota Freedom Delegation to find out more about their plans, but the site appears to have been downed by too much traffic. Here's the link if you want to try it.

How will this new nation survive? Well, their one advantage is they have almost nothing left to lose: The Lakota's men have a frighteningly short lifespan: forty-four years. Teen suicide, infant mortality and unemployment are all very high.

And on one hand, they certainly have every right to want nothing more to do with the U.S. (Wonkette has some details about recent mistreatment). On the other, it doesn't seem likely this is all going to go smoothly . Somehow we think the U.S. might have a little something to say about this secession plan, especially given the fact that the Indians are inviting regular old Americans to renounce U.S. citizenship and live in their community tax-free.

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